Sleeping Partner
by silversurf4
Summary: A short vignette of sheer unadulterated smut. Reese's POV on how Crews and Reese end up sleeping together. Takes place anytime Crews is car-less.


Sleeping with a Friend…

Reese's POV

Well, isn't this just fucking perfect? I am unabashedly feminist, fiercely independent, sometimes aggressively so, but here I am firmly ensconced in the arms of the older man who is my junior partner, such a fucking cliché. He's a man I barely understand and sometimes can't tolerate. I don't usually date cops, I don't usually sleep over night and I don't usually care about the men I fuck, but then nothing about Crews is usual.

Charlie Crews is a strange man, everything about him annoys me and nothing - and I mean nothing - can be usual with Crews. He sets my nerves on edge and drives me to grind my teeth on a daily basis, but I think he's beginning to grow on me. Laying here, unable, nope scratch that, unwilling to move - I begin to list the things about Crews I find annoying.

First, he smiles almost continuously. When you drink as much as I do that much of a white toothed grin can be blinding, maddening and infuriating. When we first started working together I was convinced he was unhinged; a real three star, raving lunatic and why not? All that time in prison, all that time alone.

Why the hell he's always smiling I don't know. It's not like his life is all sunshine and roses. His mom is dead, died while he was in prison. He hates his father. Hell, he even shot his father, albeit by accident, but he didn't seem too broken up about it. His best friend is an ex-con who really was guilty and personally I think is in it for the money. Half the department doesn't trust him, most are jealous of him and the rest probably think he did it and just beat the system. No one likes him or trusts him, except apparently me and I'm not entirely sure how or when that happened exactly.

It's not easy working with me. I know that. I'm no Pollyanna, my life sucks, but I am where I put myself. My weaknesses got me here, but it's my strength that will get me back and if that means I have to be a cast iron bitch, well, then…that's just how it's gotta be. But Crews seems so goddamned happy to be here and in the car with me. I didn't ask for this honor, breaking in the city's newest detective. I just ended up at the deep end of the pool trying to keep my head above water and work my way back up the chain. I have to admit that on more than one occasion, he's saved my ass – now it might have been saving me from shit he got me into to start with- but he's never left me hanging, so there's that.

We both have complex problems in our past. His is a past I don't entirely know and don't entirely understand, but what I can feel more than know - is that he is a good man and a good partner. What our pasts have in common is more than a bit confusing. How could I have anything in common with a guy who was on the job, off the job and locked up in jail - before I ever graduated from high school? Turns out we have more in common than either of us would like and that's a bit unsettling.

He won't talk to me about it, he won't tell me the truth, and I can see the blocks drop in front of his eyes when I try to get him to tell me. Did my father play a part in locking Crews up for twelve years? He knows I don't like my father, what is he hiding from me and why? I'm a master at hiding my feelings, at closing myself off. I know when it's being done to me and I can see it happening, but I can't get past that and earn his trust. Not that I'd thought Crews trust was something I'd fight to have.

Which brings me to the second thing that annoys me about Crews - he talks - all the fucking time…it seems like there is no off switch. Well, apparently there is, because he's dead to the world right now, but when vertical the man never shuts up. He says anything that pops into his head, often at the most inappropriate times. Honestly, at times it's like working with a ten year old with poor impulse control. The weird thing is that hours or sometimes days after he says something that I think makes no sense at all, the sense of it will echo back to me and it will make all kinds of crazy meanings bounce through my brain. I don't need that – Crews inside my head. I don't want that.

Crews talks all the fucking time, but not about what I want. He won't tell me about my father, about what my father's done, about how my father is related to why Crews went to jail for murders he didn't commit. He's a vast blank wall about that subject. He'll speak but he says nothing. Anytime I bring up the subject, no matter how forceful my effort, he delivers very measured responses that say absolutely nothing. He drops this blanket over his eyes and his normally expressive face becomes impossible to read, and it drives me absolutely berserk. I want to know what he's hiding, what he thinks he's protecting me from.

I don't need protecting, but if I was to let someone protect me, it would be Crews.

There's a look sometimes he gets that tells me everything I need to know about his capacity for violence. When we are on a case, he's "all go – no quit". Whether it's after a bad guy, into a building or over a fence, I'm convinced there is no where he won't pursue a suspect. He's relentless, driven, and smart, but then so am I, so in that regard we are the same. Fierceness, that's the look in his eyes, but so quickly that fierceness can turn to concern, even tenderness and that is the look from him that really scares me.

That Crews could care that way about me, it's not something I'm ready for.

Okay, so then there's the thing with the fruit, which shouldn't annoy me because it doesn't affect me, but Crews "thing" with fruit is not something I get. He's always chewing on or playing with - some sticky, sweet, juicy, often exotic fruit, which makes it hard for me to focus, because a man that into taste and texture could be very interesting in bed….and what do you know? It turns out he is…

I thought he'd be different, but then Charlie always surprises me. Not normal, not usual, not ordinary, very different, very unique, very Crews. I guess that would be the easiest way to describe how I ended up here, but then maybe it was inevitable. Maybe the only one fighting it was me.

I try to envision a version of reality in which I would end up wrapped in the long, lean arms of my partner and quite frankly I can't think of one.

But here I am and here I remain, like I said unwilling to move. It happened at the end of a long day, at the end of a long week, at the end of a long case, which had us both pushed to the limits of our emotional range. What day it was, what time it was, even what case it was – really wasn't important, we both needed something we weren't going to get from a stranger.

Random meaningless sex I'm good at, but sometimes you need something more. You need to be with someone you trust, someone you don't have to hide from, someone you can be yourself with and not have them judge you. Crews was that for me and I knew that instinctively. What I didn't know was he felt he could trust me, be himself with me and trust our partnership to be more than it was – physically and sexually.

It all started simply enough – in the car. Despite being filthy rich, Crews never seems to be able to keep a car or keep a car running and I simply couldn't abandon him to public transportation after the week we'd had. I offered him a ride home and watched as he squeezed his tall frame into my subcompact car with great effort and pushed the seat all the way back. I had to suppress the impulse to laugh at the implausibility of our near foot height difference, but he saw the hint of a smile that crossed my face.

"You know back in the day, we couldn't have ridden together…" he said smirking back at me.

"What?" I asked genuinely interested to know if this was going to be something about women on the force "back in the day". "Why?" I asked when he didn't respond.

"Bench seats" he remarked succinctly and then said nothing more sitting with his knees precariously close to my dashboard. I returned my eyes to the road, knowing that if I rear ended someone Crews would probably be crippled by the airbag.

I was really getting annoyed at him again. The man could talk non-stop for hours and then when I wanted to know something, he suddenly becomes as taciturn as the freaking Sphinx. "Bench seats? That's all I get Crews?" I could feel myself getting more agitated by the minute, not at him, but at the case, the day, the week. I was ready to launch into a rant, which I reserved for rare occasions, but this was one of those rare occasions and Charlie Crews was about to get both barrels.

"You fucking bastard. You talk my ear all day, off every god damned day and now you're the fucking Sphinx? What the fuck Crews? You know I've had a rough day too. I don't need this shit from you, you know what ride the fucking bus, train, taxi whatever… just get the hell away from me." I stopped and glared at him with the car stopped in traffic, horns blaring and people cursing. I was so mad the blood was rushing in my ears, the man made my blood boil. I wanted to kill him and then suddenly I realized it wasn't killing I wanted from Charlie Crews at all. It shocked me how visceral my response to him was, how powerful and overwhelming.

"Back in the day, Reese…" he began calmly, patiently and completely in control. I was out of control and he was in his element. I realized then that Charlie Crews had gone to prison a boy and come out a man, his formative years were spent in the chaos that was federal maximum security prison. Chaos was Charlie's comfort zone, he smiled softly at me and continued "all the department's cars had bench seats – for you to drive I would have had to ride in the back, chop my feet off or you'd have had to let me drive all the time, Dani, that's all." He said somewhat sadly and then he ever so gently reached across the space dividing us and peeled the fingers of my right hand off the steering wheel.

When I realized what he was doing I let go of the wheel, but Crews simply interlaced his fingers with mine, his eyes never leaving my face and said "I know" to concern I hadn't yet voiced.

You know?" I whispered more harshly than I intended.

"Yes, Dani, I know. " He said even more softly and quietly. "That dark place you think know one else knows - I know. I lived there for so long it almost feels like coming home, but that's not my home anymore and it doesn't have to be yours either." I felt the anger ease from my body as he spoke of our shared fears and foibles. This man knew darkness and he walked away from all that and lived in the light now. His eyes shone with unshed tears, I was blinking them back myself.

"Can I have my hand back now, Crews?" I asked much nicer than before.

"No" he replied simply "No, I think I'll hold onto it, in case you are tempted to launch into another tirade. Just consider it a little something to keep you grounded in reality." He smiled, but conveyed yet again that he was firmly in control of things – things being in this case – me. He stretched and flexed his fingers, his warm palm against mine and his thumb absently drawing circles on the back of my hand.

"But…" I began.

"Just drive the car, Dani" he instructed firmly, in a quiet voice with a smile on his face and in his tone.

"Where?" I asked softly.

"Home, we were going home. Remember?" he smiled at me. So I drove us home - to Crews' house.

As we pulled into the big circular drive in front of his house, I waited for Crews to release my hand and let me leave. I even looked expectantly at him, arching my eyebrows and then looking at our still linked hands. "Crews?"

"Come in for a beer?" he asked with a smile. I stood in wonder, actually I was sitting, but the metaphor isn't as strong sitting.

"Did you really just offer your alcoholic partner a drink?" I said tersely, edging toward annoyance with him again.

"I have a theory about your alcoholism, Reese. You see I don't think alcohol or drugs are your addiction. I think that it's that darkness we both know. If you are with someone who can help you with that, you won't need to get drunk or high, because you'll be safe. And Reese…. You are safe…you're safe with me." He said adding almost as an afterthought "I want you to come in. You don't have to drink anything."

I took a long time to decide. I looked out the window, then back at him, then down at our conjoined hands and back to Crews' face. I can read guys pretty well and I know when a man wants me sexually, but that's not what I saw in Charlie Crews' face. I saw something I couldn't describe, but something I knew I could trust. I let go of his hand and he opened his door and got out, for a split second I almost chickened out and drove off, but I found myself turning off the ignition and reaching for my door.

Crews opened his front door and ushered me inside. He led me to the kitchen and then removed his suit coat and silently motioned for my jacket, which he hung reverently over the back of a chair around a large unused dining room table. He returned to the kitchen, where I stood fidgeting and unclipped his badge from his belt and removed his holster and sidearm, placing them on the marble countertop and sliding them away from him. He looked at me prompting me to do likewise. This made Charlie smile broadly and we both released the breath we'd been holding.

Crews walked to the fridge and pulled out two Corona's, popping both caps on the countertop, which I almost chided him about until I realized he wasn't at all that concerned about damaged countertops. He retrieved a lime from the basket of fruit on the counter and a knife from the butcher block, offering "lime?" I shook my head no. Figures Crews would find a way to put fruit in beer, I laughed under my breath, but he caught me. He turned still cutting and looked over his shoulder at me questioning with his eyes. My next thought made all my humor evaporate in a flash, _Jesus Christ, he could do sexy._

I just ducked my head and took a long pull of the longneck bottle, feeling trouble approaching like a freight train. The beer distracted me for a moment. It was really cold and after the long day, it tasted really good. I finished licking my lips to find Crews staring at me like I was on the dinner menu. Maybe coming inside wasn't such a good idea after all, I remember thinking vaguely, but really not caring as long as he kept sending those smoldering looks my way. Like I said, I can tell when a man wants me – Charlie Crews' look spoke volumes. So it wasn't a one way street after all I remember thinking, he feels it too.

We walked out onto his patio, overlooking the city, both still silent and nursing our respective beers. "Nice view" I said turning to look at him. Crews said 'yeah' softly but he wasn't looking at the city or the ocean beyond, he was looking at me. Cops have a weird habit of keeping their gun hand free. If you watch a career cop you'll notice they never carry anything in their gun hand. Flashlights, notebooks, coffee cups, beer, it all goes in the left to keep the right (gun) hand free, even when we aren't wearing guns. Eventually it becomes muscle memory and we do it like we were born with it. Crews transferred his beer to his right hand and reached down to grasp my hand in his. He wove his fingers into mine and gently pulled me closer to him. His beer prevented him from touching me with his other hand and he stared at his beer, like it was an offending object trying to work the problem out in his head.

"Crews" I spoke his name and his eyes returned to me, still puzzled but focused on my face, my eyes and after a moment my lips. Ultimately, I gave in to what we both wanted. I stepped into his personal space and looked up at him. His eyes darkened and he finally kissed me. It was a long, slow, deep, wet kiss filled with want and when we broke apart we were both breathless, but still wanting more.

"Dani… I…" he began, but I stopped him with a look or I thought I did, but like I said Crews talks all the time. "I want you in ways you can't imagine" he murmured laying a trail of hot wet kisses along my jaw line and neck.

"Oh I can imagine Crews, in fact I have on a number of occasions" I told him, _Jesus I can't believe I just said that out loud_, I thought.

He pulled back seemed to be trying to gauge whether I was being truthful with him or just saying what I knew he wanted to hear. His gaze was penetrating and sobering, the alcohol burnt away in an instant, I could taste the lime on him when he kissed me again. He began to speak again, but by then I had poured the rest of my beer onto his stone deck and stuck the bottle neck in the pocket of my jeans to give me back my hand. I placed my hand over his mouth and his eyes darkened with desire. There was a flash of the fierceness again, which this time I recognized as possessiveness, but it was quickly replaced by the gentleness I knew.

But like bad boys, and I wanted the fierce man with me in bed, "Charlie, we can talk or we can fuck – pick one."

He took no time to decide, instead solving his problem by wrapping his arm around me beer still in hand and pulling me to his chest. "I pick door number two" he said smiling as he leaned in to kiss me. At the last moment, he pulled back slightly and looked me directly in the eyes, "this isn't Friday night Dani" he said seriously.

"I know" I replied as he brushed he lips against mine.

"We go there now…there's no going back…" he warned in a low tone.

"Crews" I barked. "Focus – talk or fuck". With that his eyes became storm clouds and he flung his beer bottle over the edge of the embankment and in a single gesture swept me up in his arms. He said nothing more as he climbed the stairs two at time carrying me to his bedroom.

This man was not gentle as he flung me onto his bed. He seemed singularly focused as his toed off his shoes and began rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. "Take off your clothes" he demanded "now" for added emphasis. I looked down and unbuttoned the shirt I was wearing, unbuttoned and unzipped my jeans shimmying them off my hips and sat to remove my boots. "The boots can stay" he spoke with a hint of humor in his voice.

I took them off, removed my jeans and put my boots back on. When I looked back up, Crews was poised watching in a wide stance, still fully dressed with his arms crossed and sleeves rolled to the elbow. The only article of clothing he'd removed was his tie. His expensive dress trousers now tented around his obvious erection, most guys I know would have burned their clothes off with a blow torch if it meant getting into bed faster, but Crews just stood there.

"Now lay down Detective Reese" he ordered. I did as he directed deciding I liked this Charlie, he was impressive and totally in control. "You said no talking, but you didn't say I couldn't use my mouth" he winked at me as he approached me across the bed on all fours. I don't know if I look scared but for a second something crossed his features, conflict, tenderness, then the dark man from my dreams returned. I knew this man, but I did not fear him. Charlie could be dark, but he would never be vicious or mean. He meant to turn me on, not frighten me and it was working. I was so worked up, I would have grabbed him by the tie, but it was gone. I settled for his hair as I pulled him hard towards me. He covered the distance rapidly and sank on his arms to the elbows over me, his narrow hips between my legs .

"Crews" I whispered desperately as I devoured his bottom lip.

"No" he said pulling away. "Not Crews, Charlie. Say it, say Charlie" he reached under my back pulling my pelvis into alignment with his erection. He rubbed himself along my pubic bone eliciting a shudder and gasp from me. He chuckled "not yet honey, not yet, soon….but not yet" as he lowered his head into the hollow between my shoulder and neck and laved it with his tongue, he then cooled the wet skin there with a breath making me shiver involuntarily. I was right, he was all about taste and texture and taking his time.

He pulled the bra strap off my shoulder and then reached behind with one hand to unclasp it and pull it from covering me. His shirt rubbed against my peaked nipples another sensation he knew I would appreciate and I felt him smile against my skin as I he slid the length of his body up and down my body. I was on fire and I wanted to touch him I wanted that shirt off and to feel his skin against mine but he captured my hands which were feverishly unbuttoning and untucking his shirt and again promised "soon, honey, but not yet…"

I was so used to being in control of things in the bedroom, Crews had me seriously off balance "Charlie, please" I begged breathlessly.

"That's my girl" he whispered with a hint of pride before raising both my hands over head and capturing them in one of his. Then he reached for something in his pocket a gesture I normally associate with a move for a condom, but instead Crews produced the other half of the lime from his pocket. He held it in his left hand above my right shoulder and looked to me for permission.

"God, Charlie" I groaned "Fruit? In bed? Really?" I said trying to sound exasperated instead of excited.

"Yes, honey… fruit… I promise it'll make you happy" he teased as he squeezed the juice from the lime. It flowed down my shoulder over the curve of my breast to the peak, which he then wrapped his warm lips around. Crews tongue began doing things to me that hinted at other things he'd be doing later and lower and it was almost too much to absorb. I couldn't help but arch my back and put Crews in a better position to demonstrate his skills. He released my arms and put both hands behind my back bending me to take more of my body in his mouth. The crisp, bitter taste of lime lingered between us and I had a fleeting thought that I'd never look at another bottle of Corona quite the same again.

I returned my hands to Crews body, but I was frustrated by his state of dress. "You have to take these off Crews. I need to touch you." Something in my voice must have spoken to my need because he paused and eased me back to the mattress. He sat back on his knees and pulled his shirt open, untucking and removing his dress shirt. Now dressed in only a white t-shirt and his trousers, he asked me "more?" I nodded and he pulled the t-shirt from his body with one hand as I worked on his belt and trousers.

Charlie on his knees, his fiery hair tousled and lit by the waning sun, was breathing hard and he sat near my feet. He ran his hands up the outside of my thighs and then flourished the lime again. Drawing it along the inside of my thigh, he squeezed and then leaned in quickly to lick and kiss away the sticky tangy juice there. I grabbed fistfuls of the sheets because I simply couldn't reach any part of him as I twisted, writhed and arched my body reaching for his mouth to touch me in places I could only imagine his warm mouth and talented tongue tasting.

He was driving me crazy and when he placed the palm of one hand firmly over my core and used the other hand to hoist my leg up over his shoulder, I groaned in anticipation. "How much are you loving fruit now, honey?" he grinned at me "wait….honey…ooh that would be good".

I grabbed a handful of his hair, trying to convey the frustration I was feeling at his ministrations, I almost screamed at him "don't even think about going anywhere to get anything." I knew that when I get this needy my eyes glitter darkly and like any shiny object it might distract Crews long enough for me get his attention.

"Do you know why I chose lime Dani?" He said softly as he continued to kiss the inside of my thigh lightly between comments. I sighed exasperated at the length of time he was making me wait.

"Charlie, please" I whined.

He completely ignored me and continued on "I chose lime because most people only notice it is tangy, bitter and tart, but it's not…deep within that flavor lurks a clean, clear, crisp and slightly sweet flavor….it's complex and tangled…like you, Dani." He explained patiently as he slipped his fingers into my panties to find me wet in anticipation of him. "Limes however are not hot, not like you….so hot, so wet" he said sinking his fingers into my core.

He threw the drained lime off the bed into a corner of the room and I grabbed his hand and began suck the sticky fingers of his hand, drawing each of them one by one deep into my mouth, wrapping my tongue around them, stroking the length of each finger with my tongue. Crews gasped and his eyes began to roll back in his head. His fingers inside me stilled and he groaned before returning his gaze to my face.

"Not fair, so not fair, Dani" he warned in a low growl, before pulling his hand from my grasp, tangling it in my hair and pulling me into him, kissing me breathless. He was now lying between my legs, his long torso overlaying mine. I could feel his cock twitching in anticipation and I wanted nothing more than for him to bury the length of himself inside me and never stop moving in tiny circles, creating blessed friction between us. But Charlie had other plans.

He began to slide down my body intent on returning his tongue to my body, but I could not take any more of the torturous pleasures of Charlie Crews. "Stop" I nearly cried and Crews instantly stilled. Gone was the fiendish sensuous torturer and in his place was my partner, my protector – he gently lifted my chin and forced me to look at him. "Tell me what's wrong, honey" he pleaded gently.

How was I supposed to tell my partner that he had me on the verge of tears because I wanted him, needed him so badly, that I simply couldn't take anymore of his special attention, I needed him, just him, with me. "Tell me what you want, Dani" he said tenderly.

I was gulping air, trying not cry, but tears blurred his concerned face in my eyes. "You" I said "Charlie, I want you. Please stop toying with me, just be with me, Charlie"

"Sshh, honey, I always want to be with you. I only want to be with you." He said kissing my forehead and both my closed eyes tasting my tears and then gently returning to his attention to me, to pleasuring me. He stood up took off the rest of his clothes and then gently removed my panties and kissing me hungrily, before he rolled us as a unit onto his back. He was letting me decide the when and giving me all the control.

I slid down the length of his body until the tip of him was at the opening to my hot core, I'm not saying this as a commentary on my looks, I'm saying this because I was on fire, we were both sweat slicked and I thought we might spontaneously combust. I started to tell Charlie to open a window, but that would mean he'd have to move. I lowered myself around him taking a moment to get used of the size of him when he grabbed my ass and pulled me closer, seating himself fully inside me. I moaned something unintelligible to him and me. He was so close, but I needed more of him.

"God, you feel so good Dani" he said in a voice so deep I wasn't even sure it belonged to him. Sweat made my hair stick to my neck and he licked the sweat from my body as we slowly began to move in rhythm. He lifted me towards him moving in and out from the base of his shaft buried deep inside me to the edge of slipping from me. Then ever so slowly he began to circle at the base grinding his pubic bone against mine. He was driving me over the edge, I was becoming lost in him, in our rhythm, in our connection.

I blessedly, finally, I gave myself over to the orgasm that had been building since Crews first took my hand on the patio and allowed myself to let Crew know how he made me feel, by repeatedly saying his name over and over, I might have been screaming, but it's hard for me know since I was seeing stars at the time. I realized Charlie must have come with me on the orgasm train because when I woke up I was sprawled across his chest and he was snoring softly.

We hadn't moved since we collapsed from exhaustion. I rolled off him, but he simply curled around me, gathered me into his chest and sighed into my hair, which brings me to where I began this narrative, with me having woken up in my partner's bed with no desire to move from the arms of Charlie Crews ever. We just finished with the preliminaries to what promised to me a compendium of mind blowing sexual fantasies with him. I was just beginning to appreciate the real ways that Charlie could drive me crazy, funny though - they still seemed to revolve around him talking too much and fruit. The smiling I decided I could learn to live with, especially since I was wearing a pretty impressive smile myself at the moment as I fell back asleep cocooned in Crews' warm embrace.


End file.
